Slow Burn Podcast

Leon Neyfakh excavates the strange subplots and forgotten characters of recent political history—and finds surprising parallels to the present. Season 1 of Slow Burn captured what it felt like to live through Watergate; Season 2 does the same with the saga of Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

For two and a half years, Emily Bazelon has been following people through a special court in New York designed to be a speedy machine for the harsh punishment of illegal gun possession. Along the way, a strange thing happened — the politics outside the courtroom started to change when a new generation of activists and insiders began challenging the old system the gun court was part of. Season 1 of Slate Presents brought you the story of Ruby Ridge, and Season 2 brings you a fight to transform one big-city j...

A special edition of Slow Burn features Leon Neyfakh live on stage. In the second of two episodes, Leon was joined in by Emily Bazelon, Wesley Morris, Dan Savage, and Andi Zeisler to explore lingering questions about the Clinton legacy. Plus, Clara Jeffery discusses Hillary Clinton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

A special edition of Slow Burn features Leon Neyfakh live on stage. In the first of two episodes, Leon was joined in by Ruth Marcus and Rick Perlstein to explore lingering questions about the Clinton legacy. Plus, a story from the season 2 cutting room floor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

This is the first episode of a new Slate podcast miniseries called Standoff. Subscribe to Standoff in Apple Podcasts or another podcast player.Randy and Vicki Weaver moved their family to a remote Idaho cabin. They feared their world would be destroyed in an apocalyptic confrontation with the federal government. They were right.In this first episode of our new narrative miniseries Standoff, host Ruth Graham explores the ideologies and influences that led to the deadly siege at Ruby Ridge in 1992.Learn more ...

Juanita Broaddrick told Ken Starr’s team of prosecutors that Bill Clinton had raped her in 1978. Her story wasn’t included in the Starr Report—but members of congress found out about it anyway, and had to decide how it would affect their vote on impeachment. In the final episode of our series on Clinton’s impeachment, Leon Neyfakh talks to Broaddrick, and to Lisa Myers, the NBC News reporter whose interview with Broaddrick became a cause célèbre during the impeachment trial. What does it mean that Broaddri...

Every week, Slate Plus members get a special episode of Slow Burn in which Leon Neyfakh talks to people connected with the Clinton impeachment saga. This week, we’re presenting excerpts from those bonus episodes, featuring interviews with Linda Tripp, consultant Dick Morris, former acting solicitor general Walter Dellinger, and Dillon Teachout, an intern in the independent counsel’s office. Learn more about Slate Plus membership at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...

Today it’s conventional wisdom that all feminists hypocritically turned their backs on Monica Lewinsky. In fact, the scandal provoked an intense debate within the feminist movement about sex, power, and consent. For some, it was obvious that Clinton had victimized Lewinsky and needed to be thrown overboard. For others, it was just as obvious that the scandal was part of a political war in which Clinton was the good guy. In the seventh episode of our series on Clinton’s impeachment, Leon Neyfakh excavates th...

Some of the most withering criticism of Clinton came from a coalition of conservative activists whose political views were bound up with their faith. The influence of the Christian right within the Republican Party had been growing steadily since the Reagan years. When the Lewinsky story broke, the movement’s leaders pounced on it with righteous vigor.In the sixth episode of our series on Clinton’s impeachment, Leon Neyfakh charts the religious right’s campaign against the president and how it failed.Learn ...

Aside from Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, the most pivotal player in the Clinton impeachment saga may have been Linda Tripp—an ordinary person who made extraordinary choices that precipitated the entire crisis. In perhaps the deepest and most intimate interview she’s ever given, Tripp talks to Leon Neyfakh about what she did, and why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

What happened between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky? Why did it happen? And what are we supposed to do about the fact that the whims and impulses of individual men can—and constantly do—alter the course of history? In the fourth episode of our series on Clinton’s impeachment, Leon Neyfakh details Clinton and Lewinsky’s reckless affair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

When Bill Clinton went to Washington, rumors and accusations from his Arkansas past went with him. But even his most dedicated political enemies couldn't predict where their efforts would lead.Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

In 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton moved into the White House on a swell of optimism. In less than a year, the new administration was mired in a sea of scandals: Travelgate, Filegate, Nannygate, and, most consequentially, Whitewater. What went wrong?Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

For 11 hours, Monica Lewinsky faced off against federal prosecutors who wanted her to help them take down the president and threatened her with decades in jail. Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn Audible is the world's largest audiobook publisher. For a 30-day trial and a free audiobook, go to audible.com/slowburnLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

The saga of Bill Clinton’s impeachment is rich with forgotten characters, surprising subplots, and opportunities to reflect on just how much America has changed over the past 20 years. Whether you’re well-versed in the tale of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, or you’re fuzzy on the details, this season of Slow Burn will take you further into the story than you’ve ever been.From its origins in the Whitewater real estate controversy, the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, and the suicide of Vince Foster, Clin...

Slow Burn presents The RFK Tapes, a podcast series from the creators of Crimetown that takes a new look at the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. In this episode, how the man who encouraged RFK to run for president began to doubt the official story of the senator's murder. Click here to subscribe to the RFK Tapes, and click here to subscribe to Better Life Lab, which is mentioned during the break.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

A special edition of Slow Burn features Leon Neyfakh live on stage in New York City. On April 19th, Leon was joined by Bob Woodward, Virginia Heffernan, Gail Sheehy, Mary DeOreo and Marc Lackritz to discuss Trump, Watergate and Nixon’s legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Slow Burn presents a preview of Upon Further Review, an five-episode miniseries about the greatest what ifs in sports history. Football really mattered to Richard Nixon. Only one problem — he sucked at it. That frustration fueled a persecution complex that would eventually bring down his presidency. How would history be different had Nixon been more than just a tackle dummy on his college football team? Upon Further Review and Slow Burn's Leon Neyfakh explores that question, and other great what ifs from s...

What had to happen for the Watergate scandals to end Richard Nixon’s career? And was his downfall inevitable? In the final episode of Slow Burn’s first season, Leon Neyfakh assesses the president’s desperate final campaign to save himself—and the people and institutions that finally brought him down.Slate Plus members get a bonus episode every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. This week, we're releasing some samples of those episodes—interviews with people with a unique perspective on Watergate. Next week: The end. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

What did Richard Nixon do when he felt the walls closing in? How did the country respond? And what did it feel like when people finally got to hear those tapes? Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Why were so many Americans ready to believe conspiracy theories after Watergate? How did those beliefs help trigger Nixon‘s downfall? And given what we know about Watergate—what separates a conspiracy theory from just a theory? Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

At a bar in Queens, and in the Senate offices, Nixon's supporters stood with him long after it was clear his hands were dirty. How did they rationalize their position? And what, finally, made them waver? Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

How a folksy segregationist senator, a team of young investigators, and a few whistleblowers staged the hearings that made Watergate must-see TV.Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Woodward and Bernstein, Walter Cronkite, and a host of other journalists tried to make people care about Watergate in the run-up to the 1972 election. They totally failed. Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

In 1973, the Senate Watergate hearings gripped the nation. But the first congressional hearings on the scandal took place a year earlier—and featured an angry Texan shouting at four empty chairs.Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

People called her crazy, and to be fair she must have seemed crazy. But she was onto something. How Martha Mitchell, the celebrity wife of one of Nixon’s closest henchmen, tried to blow the whistle on Watergate—and ended up ruining her life.Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. Find out more at slate.com/slowburn.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

It took two years for the Watergate scandal to unfold—for a break-in at the Democratic Party's headquarters to go from a weird little caper to a constitutional crisis that brought down a president. What was it like to experience those two years in real time?Hosted by Leon Neyfakh. An eight-episode podcast series made possible by Slate Plus members. Coming Nov. 28.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...